This invention relates generally to network monitoring and management systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for monitoring and managing devices in a network.
Network based systems often require management of different devices operating at the same time. This management typically includes monitoring and controlling many different types of devices interconnected within the network. These devices may have different communication protocols and require different device drivers to properly control operation of each of the devices. The monitoring and control of these devices often requires complex systems having many interfaces with the complexity increasing as the number of devices being controlled increases.
For a network having a very large number of different devices, many different interfaces for controlling and monitoring the devices having different protocol and driver requirements is often required, thereby resulting in a system that is tedious to manage and operate. Thus, the administrative and accounting costs for managing the network monitoring and control of these devices, including managing the data traffic flow, is often high, and increases rapidly as the number of devices on the network increases. For example, in a large production facility where production data is communicated between various different devices (e.g., operator interface devices, marquees, printers, etc.), the amount of time and cost to manage the various devices can be high because of the different requirements for each of the devices.